Islamic State Creates Video Game for Aspiring Terrorists

18 Sep 2014

The Islamic State (IS) announced its media apparatus has created a video game where players can wage jihad on behalf of IS forces against the West.

The Islamic State said the purpose behind the video game’s creation was to “raise the morale of the Mujahideen (people doing jihad), and to train children and young teenagers to fight the West, and to strike terror in the hearts of those who oppose the Islamic State.” Raymond Ibrahim of Jihad Watch notes this is a reference to the Koran.

The content of the game “includes all the military tactics of the organization uses against its enemies,” according a the report by Arabic Media outlet El Fagr.

The game also is said to stress the nature of “jihad and sacrifice” in its characters.

When an aspiring jihadi succeeds in taking down the games’ infidels, they then shout out “Allahu Akbar” (God is greater) and sometimes proceed by beheading the individual.

The video game, titled Saleel al-Sawarim, is a modification of the popular Grand Theft Auto series.

El Fagr, which published the original report in Arabic, is an Egyptian newspaper out of Cairo known for its anti-Islamist stances. In 2005, the paper published on its front page a cartoon of the prophet Muhammad, an act that is seen as a grave sin in Islam.